Santa Barbara Quakes Mid-Season Report

Santa Barbara is going through a dismal season with a record so far of 31-61 at the midpoint of July. The hope was a huge park would keep the Quakes in games and while it has managed to do so with many low scoring games, it’s not made much difference. The pitching has been horrendous as expected. I. Valdez 1-9, 7.77 ERA, M. Batista 4-10, 6.12 ERA, S. Sparks 3-9, 5.35 ERA. The Quakes have an anemic offense as well averaging 3.79 runs per game and in the bottom group league-wide as a team. But there are some bright spots looking to next year.

Gustavo Chacin is 8-5 with a 1.42 whip and 3.81 ERA with Toronto and in the running for Rookie of the Year honors.

Grady Sizemore is starting, playing CF and leading off for the Indians. He’s been on a bit of a cold streak the last 7-10 games but is hitting .283, with 7 Triples, 11 SBs and a great glove. Superstar is written all over this young player.

David Wright has been hot since the All-Star break. He had a 2 homer game this week versus the Braves and hit one out last night (#14). Wright is hitting .286 with 14 homers, 47 RBI, 22 2Bs and 7 SBs. He’s one of the young and coming players in baseball.

Ryan Church, while battling injuries, is just off the DL and hitting .321 with a .376 OBP in 156 Abs.

Dan Johnson was called up with the A’s and has been starting at 1b during Oakland’s resurgence. Johnson is hitting .285 in 38 games and showing the promise that was expected. With the likelihood that Scott Hatterberg won’t return, Johnson should be the starting 1B next season.

Lance Niekro has been getting a fair amount of playing time for the Giants in place of JT Snow and is doing well. He’s hitting .292 with 10 homers so far and an .866 OBPS.

The rebuilding process will continue to take some time but the building blocks look to be in place. With some salary relief coming next year, the Quakes will continue to look forward to adding young talent.